Making waves in beach fashion
Swimwear designer coming home
BORN and bred in Durban, swimwear designer Gabrielle Kool is making waves when it comes to looking hot on the beach.
And, although winter is settling in, Kool is already looking forward to summer – and her homecoming. The 31-year-old designer confirmed she was heading back to her home shores at the end of June from her Cape Town base.
“I’ll keep my business here in Cape Town, but my family are in Durban and I feel the need to be there,” she said.
Her 2017/2018 collection will be shown at SA Fashion Week in Johannesburg in October.
Being passionate about surfing is another important reason for her return to KZN and the warm Indian Ocean.
“I want to get back to my surfing and beach lifestyle.
“I’m planning to live on the South Coast, where I can have my studio to design and grow some vegetables. I want to live consciously,” she said.
Having attended Kloof High School, Kool grew up in a family that was environmentally conscious.
“My mom is an environmentalist and my dad is a businessman, so I was lucky to learn from both of them.”
After completing matric, she went to DUT to study Fashion and Textile Design and then headed overseas, where she noticed there were far bigger ranges of swimwear on offer than in South Africa.
“I worked in Malaysia as a costume designer and I travelled to Taiwan and through the central US.
“When I came back to SA, I wanted to start my own business and create a niche in bikinis. Now there is so much coming in from China and so many up-and-coming designers, I decided to start printing my own fabrics and focused on creating my own style of swimwear.
“On Instagram, there are thousands of swimwear designs, but they all look similar and I wanted to do something uniquely South African.”
While describing the African ethnic prints as “beautiful”, Kool said the plant life provided her inspiration.
“Last year I did my aloe collection and this year have incorporated plants such as proteas and the acacia thorn into my designs, but I have done them rather as a silhouette in this year’s designs.
“I have focused on fall colours, olive, dusty pink and mustard. They are muted and interesting.”
Looking ahead to the summer season, Kool said full swimsuits had made a big comeback and were no longer the domain of older women.
“It’s so lovely to see younger women buying full suits. They can be fun and sexy.”
When it comes to bikinis, Kool said, South Africa needed to catch up a bit and, while not quite a thong, showing off a bit of cheeky butt on the beach was on-trend.
“Bikinis are more skimpy, with the Brazilian cut being very popular. You don’t have to have a tiny butt – be daring and show it off,” she said.